


Eternal Childhood

by Frog_that_writes



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Ghosts dont age, Internal Monologue, No Dialogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:34:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21641014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frog_that_writes/pseuds/Frog_that_writes
Summary: Ghosts don't age.Apparently, that applies to a halfa's ghost half as well.Danny reflects on why Phantom fights to protect a town that had never fought to protect him while he thinks about what it's like to die young.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 78





	Eternal Childhood

Ghosts don't age. 

Danny had always known this, of course. While his parents may not have had the ability to study the phenomenon before the portal opened, they had definitely been able to theorize over it. And after the portal opened, well…

So many of the ghosts he had met were young. For a long time, he had barely realized it. There were ghosts around his age, ghosts around his parents age, ghosts whose ages made absolutely no sense and everywhere in between. 

It was when he first met Young Blood that he started to think about it. This kid was a pain in his neck, sure, but he was still a kid. Throwing a tantrum over wanting to play and pouting when he didn't get his way. If he hadn't glowed an unearthly green, Danny almost would have pegged him as a normal 6 year old. Almost.

He was too scared to ask the kid when he had died. But Danny caught it sometimes. The familiarity with his powers that could not have come over night. His easy maneuvering of the ghost zone. This place of death was his home. He had probably been dead long enough that the living world was nothing but a faint memory to him. His checks were round with baby fat, and there was a constant blue-green blush on them. He was dead. He was a little kid. 

It wasn't obvious to Danny at first. He had always been a little slow with the whole growing up thing. He could probably peg that on the whole puberty blockers and testosterone shots. His wasn't exactly sprouting inches a month. 

But eventually, probably two years after the portal, it occurred to him. He was getting older. And Phantom wasn't. It was odd, transforming and suddenly losing those new inches. His limbs suddenly felt heavier with the fat that had been stored up for the growth spurt he had eventually accomplished. Phantom was young. He was dead, and he was young. 

But Danny wasn't dead. And that was all that really mattered, right? He was getting older. He grew taller and the acne eventually started to clear. He no longer looked like a little kid. Because that's what Phantom was, right? That's what he had been when he died. A little kid, playing with technology he has never tried to understand. Trying to fight entities stronger than him to protect a town that had never cared about him. He was a child. He had died. 

Sometimes, Phantom looked at a freshman and tried to imagine them like him. A translucent body glowing a pale impossible green. Floating above the ground with eyes that were not eyes but swirling pools of ectoplasm. They were young. They could die. 

And maybe that was why Phantom fought. Not to protect a town that didn't care about his human half. But to protect kids who could easily have become like him. Child ghosts created by an attack they were not quick enough to run from. 

Danny was going to grow old, if he was careful. Phantom had never had that chance. He was always going to be a dead child with hunched shoulders and empty eyes leaking ectoplasm. But maybe that was okay. Because maybe, he could make sure that no other children in Amity Park would end up like him. They are young. They are children. He was going to make sure they didn't stay that way.

**Author's Note:**

> Was this good? Debatable. Did I write it in 10 minutes? Yup.   
> Please leave a comment and kudo if you enjoyed!! I would really appreciate it


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